Northview Hts Squashed it for Food Revolution Day

This week was a flurry of activities all leading up to FOOD REVOLUTION DAY on May 15, 2015.

All over the world people were hosting or attending all kinds of Food Revolution Day events.  

On this day I headed back to my Grade 13 High School  - Northview Heights Secondary School for my pal and fellow Ambassador' Susan Ng's huge event with about 1200 kids either in the cafeteria, the gym, and patched in from other classes and schools.  We were in the Cafeteria with about 500 kids and a group of kids from Wilmington P.S. who were probably the most excited about the whole thing.

Other Ambassadors on hand to support Susan were Mary Catherine Anderson and Mardi Michels.  We were assigned to try and capture the events and for support for Susan.  Unfortunately we weren't able to capture the faces of the kids so I can't show you how excited some of the kids were.

They had set up a video conference system to patch in the other classes and also a feed to speak with Jamie Oliver in London.  Unfortunately there was only a couple of minutes to speak to Jamie and the audio wasn't working so all he could do was wave to all of us while he watched Susan holding the microphone and frozen.  Sadly we weren't able to speak to Jamie but at least he could see us and gave us a big wave.

The whole cafeteria was a flurry of vegetable smashing though as the kids were set up at different tables and given ziploc bags filled with vegetables to smash for Jamie's Food Revolution Day Squash It Sandwich.  It's a sandwich of various vegetables like cauliflower, red peppers, and whatever you have on hand and bashed up into little bits and then put onto a multigrain bun that is spread with hummus on one side of the bun and a ricotta or other type of creamy cheese on the other side and the vegetables in the middle.  The hummus helps the vegetables stick on the bun.

As you can see from the photo above the kids were given step by step instructions on how to assemble the sandwiches.   After all that smashing and assembling they got to eat the sandwiches.  They all seemed to like the sandwiches because all that was left were little bits of vegetables that had fallen out of the buns.

Other than the technical problems it was a very successful event.  I don't think Susan expected it to be as big of an event as it turned into.  She certainly didn't know that Jamie was going to be doing a video conference in.  The school board members were very excited about the event and their teacher Dimitra was so excited that she couldn't stop hugging all of us.  We were just there to facilitate,  Susan and the school really did all the work and of course the students participation.  

I hope that it translates into the kids taking it home and telling their parents they want to make it at home or if the kids are ever left on their own they will remember that they can make it themselves and always be in control of what they eat.

We will see in the future how this vegetable smashing event inspires them in different ways.  I hope we see future chefs or food advocates in the future.

Great job Susan!

You can read more about Susan on her blog Susans savour it http://susanssavourit.blogspot.ca/